The Surrey Eagles have made one of the largest trades in the B.C. Hockey League, and have traded captain and 00 born defenseman Cody Schiavon to the Trail Smoke Eaters for 99 born forward Liam Freeborn and 00 born defender Kieran O’Hearn. In a corresponding move, the Eagles also traded Juliano Santalucia to the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Grande Prairie Storm for future considerations.
Starting with what the Eagles received, the package for Schiavon was significant. Freeborn is a 20 year old forward who played on Trail’s top line with the BCHL’s top 2 leading scorers in Kent Johnson and Michael Colella. Freeborn started the year off slowly, but has found his game of late has 7 points in his last 8 games. For the season, Freeborn has 4 goals and 4 assists in 16 games played.
Kieran O’Hearn is the other player coming in the deal, and is another experienced BCHL defender who’ll look to shore up the blueline with Schiavon’s absence. The 19 year old blue liner from North Delta has played in 17 games this season, and while he only has 1 goal and 3 assists, his defensive presence has been key for the Smoke Eaters in their resurgence back up the standings.
However, these 2 potential impact players came at a large cost. Cody Schiavon has been one of the faces of the team for the past 2+ years, and his impact around the team and in the community was tremendous. Cody has been a standout citizen off the ice, and a true leader on it this season, with 4 goals, 6 assists at 38 penalty minutes in his 17 games played this year. For his Surrey Eagles career, Schiavon finishes with 113 games played, 10 goals, 32 assists, and 94 penalty minutes. Schiavon also earned a commitment to Yale University for the 2020-21 campaign during his tenure with Surrey.
A trade like this is never easy to make, and Cam Keith told us so in a quick interview with Surreyeagles.ca. “This was a difficult decision, but I felt it was in the best interest of Cody moving forward. He was an excellent leader, and a true representation of what it means to be a Surrey Eagle. He always played with his heart and soul, and gave a lot back to his community. He’ll truly be missed by everyone in the organization.”
In a corresponding move, the Eagles sent Juliano Santalucia back to the AJHL. Santalucia was one of the last pieces acquired in the Ty Westgard trade, but his Eagles career didn’t go as planned. Santalucia was injured to start the season, and couldn’t find himself regular playing time with the 7 other defensemen on the roster who had learned the new system the Eagles coaches put in place. He played in 4 games this season, with no points and 6 penalty minutes.
We’re extremely excited to welcome Liam and Kieran to the Surrey Eagles. We’re also thankful for all of the hard work Cody Schiavon and Juliano Santalucia gave to this organization, and wish them the best moving forward.
